ME 472

(Corrosion Engineering)

Instructor: Dr. Ihsan-Ul-Haq Toor

Office: 63-358/Phone:7493
E-mail: ihsan@kfupm.edu.sa

Reference/Reading: Chapter 5-classnotes

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

Faraday’s Law and measurement of mass loss/gain or corrosion current
How much metal is dissolved/reacted or accumulated can be determined using
Faraday’s law.

 Faraday established a relationship between current “I” and mass “m” reacted as
follows; m=Iat/ zF
Where;
I= Current involved during a reaction, a= Atomic weight of the material
T= time of reaction, Z= number of equivalents exchanged
F= Faraday’s constant

The rate of metal dissolution or reduction may be expressed as a

current density (A/cm2) according to the Faraday’s law ;
• m=Iat/ zF
• Divide with 1/At on both sides (A=surface area)
m/tA=Iat/ zFAt
r= ia/zF
WHERR
r= mass loss per unit area per unit time

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

 Corrosion Rate Measurements

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

Corrosion Rate Measurements (Weight loss measurement)

Specimen preparation
Exposure to environment
 Specimen cleaning
 Measurement of change in
specimen weight.

• Corrosion rate expressions.

- mm/y : millimeter per year.

- gmd : grams per m2 per day
- ipy : inches per year
- mpy : mills per year
- mdd : mg per square decimeter per day.

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

Corrosion Rate Measurements (Weight loss measurement)

Corrosion Coupons for weight loss measurement

Flat
–Rings
–Cylindrical

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Corrosion Coupon Test Standards
ASTM G1 "Preparing, Cleaning, and Evaluating CorrosionTest
Specimens," American Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM).

•ASTM G4 "Conducting Corrosion Coupon Tests in Plant

Equipment,“

•ASTM G31 "Laboratory Immersion Corrosion Testing of Metals,"

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Weight loss method

Advantages of using Coupons:

Simple and inexpensive.
Easy to use in the lab or directly in service equipment (pipes, tanks)
Possible to analyze the corrosion products
Possible to get an idea about actual corrosion mechanism by obser
ving the surface
Disadvantages of using Coupons:
Short-term exposure might be misleading (minimum exposure
should be 1 week).
Requires easy access to install and collect coupons

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 Coupon Installation

Holders are required to properly install the coupons in plant

equipments

 Turbulence in flow due to coupons must be avoided

Coupons must be electrically isolated from holder and from

the system to be monitored

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

Why Polarization methods?

As compared to weight loss methods, these methods are:

Non-destructive
 Results can be obtained very quickly
 Results are very sensitive to environment

Basic Principles Behind Poalrization Methods?

 Tafel Extrapolation (used for lab measurements)

 Linear Polarization ( used for in-service as well as lab
measurements)

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

 Change the potential of working electrode and monitor the current that is
produced as a function of time or potential
Anodic polarization; Change the potential of working electrode in the anodic
direction (corrosion)->extracting electrons from the electrode
Cathodic polarization; Change the potential of WE in the cathodic direction ->
Electrode become more negative->protection or electrodeposition

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Corrosion Rate Measurements (Basic Equipment for Polarization method)

Potentiostate [what is its function?]

 To control the potential and current

of the system
 Data storage

Polarization Cell [what is its function?]

 Working electrode; -Sample under investigation
Reference Electrode; To monitor and control
potential
Counter Electrode; To control and measure current
 Luggin probe;To minimize solution resistance and
RE avoid any contamination
 Temp. monitoring
WE
CE  Gas flow inlet

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor
Corrosion Rate Measurements (Basic Equipment for Polarization method)

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods) Tafel Extrapolation

Based on the mixed potential theory

1) Tafel Extrapolation:

In activation controlled polarization,

polarization curve shows a linear region, which
is called Tafel behavior (as shown in Fig.)

Corrosion rate is determined by extrapolation

of Tafel region to the corrosion potential io,H2 on
metal M.

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 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods) Tafel Extrapolation

Anodic

ᵦa
E0

ᵦc Cathodic

i0

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Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

Potentiodynamic Polarization

In this method potential of the WE is varied

over a relatively large potential domain, at
a selected rate by the application of a
current through the electrolyte

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 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)
Cyclic Polarization
Used to evaluate localized corrosion (pitting Susceptibility) of a
material, especially stainless steels.

 The potential is swept in a single cycle or slightly less than

one cycle usually starting the scan at the corrosion potential.

The voltage is first increased in the anodic or noble direc

tion (forward scan). The voltage scan direction is reversed
at some chosen current or voltage toward the cathodic or ac
tive direction (backward or reverse scan) and terminated at anot
her chosen voltage.

Presence of the hysteresis between the currents measured in th

e forward and backward scans is believed to indicate
pitting, while the size of the hysteresis loop itself has been r
elated to the amount of pitting that has occurred during the
scan.

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor

 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

Linear Polarization Resistance method:

Polarization resistance of a material is defined as the ΔE/Δi (slope of a potential-current
density curve at the free corrosion potential, yielding the polarization resistance Rp
 Rp is related to the corrosion current (icorr) with the help of the Stern-Geary
approximation as follows (under activation controlled polarization)

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 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

Linear polarization method:

 Within 10~20mV [linear region] more noble or

active than the Ecorr, measure the curent (i)

 Plot a graph between overvoltage (Eapp- Ecorr)

versus (i)

Rp will be the slope of potential current density

curve near Ecorr
Rp=∆E/∆I as ∆E0

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 Corrosion Rate Measurements (DC polarization methods)

For Field Measurements

ME472: Corrosion Engineering Copyright@Dr. IH Toor